Official: Chelsea sign Enzo Fernandez on an Eight and a Half Year Contract

[paulw66]

I don't know why most of this chat is happening under the Maresca thread, so will try and keep this here.

For those calling for him to be sacked, or that he can never play for the club again........let's be real. The club isn't going to cast off a 100m asset. It just isn't, and it can't afford to. Forget your own opinion on what should / should not be done, let's just focus on what will possibly happen....in no particular order:

1. the club will make every effort to mend bridges between him and the rest of the squad, and he will resume at a given opportunity 

2. he will get heavily fined, and probably suspended 

3. if the squad members (particularly the black french ones) cannot accept his apology, and it becomes untenable, presumably, the club will offer him around. A permanent sale would come at a huge loss.

4. failing that, a loan for a year, allow everyone to forget and move on, then try and sell may also happen. I mean, clubs are currently trying to buy Greenwood FFS. 

[ROTG]

25 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

The club isn't going to cast off a 100m asset.

Lukaku says hello. 
 

Tin hat time 😀

[martin1905]

31 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

I don't know why most of this chat is happening under the Maresca thread, so will try and keep this here.

For those calling for him to be sacked, or that he can never play for the club again........let's be real. The club isn't going to cast off a 100m asset. It just isn't, and it can't afford to. Forget your own opinion on what should / should not be done, let's just focus on what will possibly happen....in no particular order:

1. the club will make every effort to mend bridges between him and the rest of the squad, and he will resume at a given opportunity 

2. he will get heavily fined, and probably suspended 

3. if the squad members (particularly the black french ones) cannot accept his apology, and it becomes untenable, presumably, the club will offer him around. A permanent sale would come at a huge loss.

4. failing that, a loan for a year, allow everyone to forget and move on, then try and sell may also happen. I mean, clubs are currently trying to buy Greenwood FFS. 

By letting money get in the way of our decision making we are basically saying money is more important than getting a racist scumbag out of our club.

Do you think if it was Malang Sarr, for example the decision making process would be different?

As soon as they allow the cost of a player to get in the way of doing the right thing we are condoning racism by saying money is more important.

Edited July 17 by martin1905

[paulw66]

16 minutes ago, martin1905 said:

By letting money get in the way of our decision making we are basically saying money is more important than getting a racist scumbag out of our club.

 

I'm not saying you're right or wrong. I am just calling for people to realistic. 

The club aren't going to boot out a 100m asset, whether you or I think they should. 

16 minutes ago, martin1905 said:

 

Do you think if it was Malang Sarr, for example the decision making process would be different?

 

Sadly, yes. In the same way if it were you or I and our employers. We could be replaced (I expect, without knowing how good you are at your job)

 

Edit - do you think if JT or Lamps had failed a drug test in 2005, they would have been sacked? 

Edited July 17 by paulw66

[martin1905]

52 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

I'm not saying you're right or wrong. I am just calling for people to realistic. 

The club aren't going to boot out a 100m asset, whether you or I think they should. 

Sadly, yes. In the same way if it were you or I and our employers. We could be replaced (I expect, without knowing how good you are at your job)

 

Edit - do you think if JT or Lamps had failed a drug test in 2005, they would have been sacked? 

If the general consensus is that we don't get rid of him because of his value, but if it was a different player with a much, much lower value we would act differently then we might as well just say racism is only unacceptable if it doesn't cost too much money.

Very delicate situation for the club to handle, especially with our unfortunate history as a fan base, albeit a minority over the years.

As for the failed drug yest thing, not sure I follow. Or at least not sure how it has any relevance to this situation. 

[Sciatika]

What @paulw66 said is right. You have to build bridges between the players and the various stakeholders who are offended by what he did (that means the players, the club, the fans and the community). But, in the end, you have to try and find ways to convert the situation to a positive. That's not easy but for any wrongdoing, there has to be redemption. 

[paulw66]

1 minute ago, martin1905 said:

 

As for the failed drug yest thing, not sure I follow. Or at least not sure how it has any relevance to this situation. 

Well, the relevance is clear.

A failed drugs test gave Chelsea the opportunity to take the, "we take a zero tolerance approach to drugs" line, whilst being able to get of a player, Mutu, who they were very keen to get rid of.

Would they have taken the same line with a player with a high value (both in the monetary and playing sense)? I suspect not. 

And btw, Chelsea were castigated in certain circles for not sticking by Mutu, and demanded we help rehabilitate. 

This is situation is very similar; just replace class A drug use for racism. Had this been a player whose contract we would happily rip up (Sarr the perfect example), I am sure that's what would happen. 

[ROTG]

1 minute ago, paulw66 said:

Well, the relevance is clear.

A failed drugs test gave Chelsea the opportunity to take the, "we take a zero tolerance approach to drugs" line, whilst being able to get of a player, Mutu, who they were very keen to get rid of.

Would they have taken the same line with a player with a high value (both in the monetary and playing sense)? I suspect not. 

And btw, Chelsea were castigated in certain circles for not sticking by Mutu, and demanded we help rehabilitate. 

This is situation is very similar; just replace class A drug use for racism. Had this been a player whose contract we would happily rip up (Sarr the perfect example), I am sure that's what would happen. 

The club was also castigated over the JT / Ferdinand allegation. 

[Bigpokey24]

This is going to be a very huge issue in the club.  I have no respect for Enzo , never rated him. There are 6 French internationals at Chelsea. Why make such a comment/chant?  You are a high profile player and you goof this badly? 

[paulw66]

4 minutes ago, ROTG said:

The club was also castigated over the JT / Ferdinand allegation. 

That's actually a good point.

@martin1905 do you think JT would have got the boot had he be found guilty? I doubt it  

[Bert19]

2 hours ago, paulw66 said:

It will certainly be interesting to see what happens to the others in the video.

Yes Enzo was the one filming, but they were all merrily singing along. In terms of the racial content, they are all equally guilty. Enzo is additionally guilty of gross stupidity. 

Good points - this seems to be an Argentinian squad problem (in addition to being Enzo's problem now).   They're all doing it, know what it means and Enzo is the first one to have actually acknowledged the problem it has caused and apologised for his unacceptable behaviour. 

 

I suppose there's further context to consider here.  If the other players and staff (and indeed the Club) see Enzo as a generally nice lad, but he's clearly made a very serious error, then I suspect most will try to rebuild the relationship and accept his apology as being genuine.

It might also be why the others have called him out so publicly - they thought he's a good guy and they didn't expect to see this type of behaviour from their mate. 

If however he's displayed questionable behaviour in the past and players/staff are able to cite examples of this, or have raised them before then it's a very different scenario for him

(not that I am suggesting he's done anything like this before, as far as i'm aware the other players like him and he's well-regarded at the Club). 

 

One would hope that this is a genuine mistake, that he's actually sorry & the apology is sincere. 

[martin1905]

 

19 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

That's actually a good point.

@martin1905 do you think JT would have got the boot had he be found guilty? I doubt it  

 

29 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

Well, the relevance is clear.

A failed drugs test gave Chelsea the opportunity to take the, "we take a zero tolerance approach to drugs" line, whilst being able to get of a player, Mutu, who they were very keen to get rid of.

Would they have taken the same line with a player with a high value (both in the monetary and playing sense)? I suspect not. 

And btw, Chelsea were castigated in certain circles for not sticking by Mutu, and demanded we help rehabilitate. 

This is situation is very similar; just replace class A drug use for racism. Had this been a player whose contract we would happily rip up (Sarr the perfect example), I am sure that's what would happen. 

Do I think the club would have dealt with JT the same as Mutu? Absolutely not. 

This is completely different though. Can't compare a failed drugs test and using that as an excuse to get rid of a troublesome player to outright racism.

Whether or not we dealt with Mutu appropriately 20 years ago should not have any bearing on this. None whatsoever. 

Do I think JT should have been sacked if he had been found guilty with Ferdinand? 100%. But he wasn't.

Edited July 17 by martin1905

[Bigpokey24]

23 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

That's actually a good point.

@martin1905 do you think JT would have got the boot had he be found guilty? I doubt it  

You are missing the point . There are six team mates who all share the dressing room with Enzo. this is a a huge issue . JT had issues with a player outside of Chelsea 

Edited July 17 by Bigpokey24

[paulw66]

2 minutes ago, Bigpokey24 said:

You are missing the point . There are six team mates who all share the dressing room with Enzo. this is a a huge issue . JT had issues with a player outside of Chelsea 

Ah, so racism is ok, so long as you have no black players in your team? Come on. 

 

[paulw66]

10 minutes ago, martin1905 said:

 

 

Do I think JT should have been sacked if he had been found guilty with Ferdinand? 100%. But he wasn't.

but we / you are mixing the should and the would.

he should have

he wouldn't have 

[Ham]

Anyone thinking the club are going to sack the player and then plunge their investment into a perilous financial position need their heads examining 

Let's wait until all of the players on the bus have been sacked by their clubs and then maybe we'll think about it. 

Until then let the club, and more importantly, the players sort this out.  

 

[Mark Kelly]

Just now, Ham said:

Anyone thinking the club are going to sack the player and then plunge their investment into a perilous financial position need their heads examining 

Let's wait until all of the players on the bus have been sacked by their clubs and then maybe we'll think about it. 

Until then let the club, and more importantly, the players sort this out.  

 

It appears to be a one man bus journey as far as the media is concerned . 

 

[Ham]

1 minute ago, Mark Kelly said:

It appears to be a one man bus journey as far as the media is concerned . 

 

Don't forget that Enzo is effectively the whistleblower here 🫢

[Morgs]

2 hours ago, Mark Kelly said:

I'm already hearing "yeah but , yeah but MacAllister wasn't there " like night follows day.

They are so predictable it is unreal. 

[Mark Kelly]

14 minutes ago, Ham said:

Don't forget that Enzo is effectively the whistleblower here 🫢

The conductor 

[Mark Kelly]

7 minutes ago, Morgs said:

They are so predictable it is unreal. 

Someone on Football365  comments section said what he did was far worse than Suarez calling Evra " the N word" - what was it 23 times?

No.  Really.

[CarefreeMuratcan]

I'm sad to say the kind of mentality that the Argentina players showed is also prevalent amongst Turkish social media as well, here's an example:
https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9Z_N_PNJDI/

At least it isn't the players doing it in Turkey's case, but still shows you the kind of thinking that's out there and common outside of Western countries.

[Blue Moon]

2 hours ago, ROTG said:

Lukaku says hello. 
Tin hat time 😀

So does Mutu

[Bigpokey24]

38 minutes ago, paulw66 said:

Ah, so racism is ok, so long as you have no black players in your team? Come on. 

 

How did you get such from my reply? I am lost.  As i said , Enzo goofed big time. This is a major issue at the club.  The last 6 games Enzo wasn't in the team and we were excellent. His last game for Chelsea was a 5-0 drubbing from the pathetic assanal.  You have 6 team members from the French national team in your squad and you think they will take this lightly?  Let's not gas light Terry's incident towards this pressing issue  Enzo has created for Chelsea football club . He must be fined, etc 

[paulw66]

40 minutes ago, Ham said:

Anyone thinking the club are going to sack the player and then plunge their investment into a perilous financial position need their heads examining 

 

Which is the exact point I was trying to make, but you have made it more succinctly. 

3 minutes ago, Bigpokey24 said:

How did you get such from my reply? I am lost.  As i said , Enzo goofed big time. This is a major issue at the club.  The last 6 games Enzo wasn't in the team and we were excellent. His last game for Chelsea was a 5-0 drubbing from the pathetic assanal.  You have 6 team members from the French national team in your squad and you think they will take this lightly?  Let's not gas light Terry's incident towards this pressing issue  Enzo has created for Chelsea football club . He must be fined, etc 

Apologies, perhaps I misunderstood your point. 

I think he will be fined. He will be suspended and probably made to go on some sort of racial awareness, diversity training course (or some garbage like that, of which those of us in the corporate world are all too  familiar with), and then everyone will kiss and make up.